The Barefoot Insight
- Heather Poulos
- 13 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Why cybersecurity visibility matters more than tools
Most large organisations don’t suffer from a lack of cybersecurity tools. In fact, many have invested heavily over the years, layering technology to address new risks as they emerge. And yet, incidents still happen, because organisations can’t always see clearly what’s happening.
What we’ve seen recently is a consistent pattern: security breaks down not at the point of detection, but at the point of visibility, coordination, and response. When insight is fragmented or unclear, even good tools lose their value.
1. When cybersecurity alerts exist, but action lags
In many environments, critical alerts are generated correctly, but they’re delayed, missed, or not acted on in time. This isn’t usually due to negligence. It’s more often the result of unclear processes, poor communication between teams, or fatigue caused by constant noise.
As Fanus, SOC Manager, explains:
“A lack of clear and frequent communication between teams, unclear expectations, and the absence of detailed SOPs all increase the risk of critical alerts being delayed or even missed.”
Over time, this erodes trust in the alerts themselves. When everything feels urgent, nothing truly is.
What leaders should take from this: Visibility isn’t just about seeing alerts, it’s about ensuring teams are set up to interpret and act on them consistently. Clear standards, defined processes, and sustainable ways of working matter just as much as detection.
2. Fragmented tools create fragmented insight
As organisations grow, it’s common for different teams to adopt different security tools. While this can make sense locally, it often introduces blind spots at an organisational level.
Charl, Technical Director, sees this from two angles:
“Engineers working in isolation lose the ability to correlate related incidents or share lessons learned. At the same time, reporting becomes harder because metrics from different systems need to be normalised - and trust in risk scores erodes when they only reflect half the picture.”
When visibility is split across platforms, no one has the full story. Security events don’t always live neatly in one system, they unfold across identity, endpoints, cloud services, and networks.
For CTOs: The challenge isn’t just tool choice, it’s ensuring visibility is joined up, shared, and trusted across teams. Without that, decision-making becomes slower and less confident.
3. Visibility is ultimately a leadership question
Clear visibility doesn’t stop at dashboards. It also depends on how leaders think about risk, resilience, and human behaviour.
Kyle, Security Consultant, often wishes CTOs would step back and ask broader questions:
“If our critical systems were compromised right now, what would our functional operations actually look like?”
This reframes security away from theoretical preparedness and toward real operational impact. Kyle also points to the importance of understanding accumulated “security debt” - risks accepted during rushed projects or tight timelines, and whether that debt is actively tracked or quietly growing.
Another overlooked area is trust in people:
“We talk about people as a human layer of defence, but would they report a mistake, or try to hide it?”
The takeaway: True visibility includes understanding systems, dependencies, and behaviours, not just technical signals. Leaders who encourage openness and clarity get better insight when it matters most.
A grounded reminder for CTOs
This isn’t a call to buy fewer tools, or more tools. It’s a reminder that tools only create value when organisations can see clearly, connect the dots, and respond with confidence.
The strongest security postures are built on:
shared visibility across teams and platforms
clear ownership and accountability
realistic questions about resilience
cultures that support learning, not blame
Cybersecurity works best when organisations have clear visibility, well-defined ownership, and teams who feel confident and empowered to act.
Clarity, not complexity, remains one of the most powerful controls available.
Wanting to gain clarity & clear visibility of your cybersecurity? Feel free to reach out to us for honest, no-jargon advice from people who understand cybersecurity.
